All posts tagged Diaoyu Islands

China’s move to enforce an air-defense zone has several countries in the region concerned. Deborah Kan speaks to Scott Harold of RAND Corp., a global think tank, on why China may be playing the wrong hand in its play for islands in the East China Sea. Read More »

The U.S. military countered China’s latest move to lay claim to disputed islands with the establishment of an air defense zone in the East China Sea by flying B-52 bombers over the area. Paul Burton, Asia-Pacific director at IHS, talks about why this move has escalated tensions in the region. Read More »

Now that Japan’s airlines have decided to effectively thumb their noses at China’s recent move to assert authority over a set of islands that both countries claim, the big question is: Is such a step safe?

China, after all, informed global air carriers on Saturday that it had set up a so-called air-defense identification zone, or ADIZ, around the disputed territory, and that flights going through the zone had to recognize China’s authority, or else. Read More »

China’s defense ministry said Wednesday it monitored and identified U.S. military aircraft that flew near disputed islands in the East China Sea and that it had the capability to exercise control over a new Chinese air defense zone in the area.

In Beijing’s first public comment to the over-flight by two U.S. B-52 bombers, the ministry said U.S. military aircraft had flown on the eastern edge of the new Chinese zone, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the islands. Read More »

Chinese citizens vented angrily on the country’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo microblogging platform as news broke of U.S. B-52 bombers flying over disputed East China Sea islands claimed by China. But they reserved some of their harshest contempt for their military’s apparent inability to respond. Read More »

The latest flashpoint for the U.S.-China rivalry is something called an Air Defense Identification Zone. China announced over the weekend that it set up an ADIZ over the East China Sea that overlaps with similar zones maintained by Japan, South Korea and Taiwan

What distinguishes an ADIZ from a country’s national airspace or Exclusive Economic Zone? The technical definitions lie in the small print scattered through complex treaties and national laws and regulations. Here’s a rough lexical guide to help make sense of the key terms. Read More »

Effective 10 a.m. on Nov. 23, Beijing declared an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) covering a significant portion of the East China Sea. The Chinese air force soon conducted its first patrol in the zone, with two large reconnaissance aircraft monitoring the area, early warning aircraft supporting and fighters providing cover.

Despite boilerplate disclaimers to the contrary, Beijing’s action appears targeted precisely at stoking tension between China and Japan, and putting pressure on the U.S.-Japan alliance. Particularly problematic is the fact that official Chinese statements imply that Beijing intends to use military force if necessary to ensure that all aircraft comply with Beijing’s instructions within its declared ADIZ. Read More »

The government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has a new phrase to characterize its policy for dealing with territorial tensions with China: strategic patience.

The term was introduced to an audience in Tokyo earlier this week by Shotaro Yachi, a former top foreign ministry official who is now the prime minister’s key diplomatic policy adviser.

According to Mr. Yachi, strategic patience means Japan “will refrain from responding emotionally” to provocations by Beijing – namely the continued incursion of official Chinese ships into the waters around East China Sea islands controlled by Japan but also claimed by China. Under the policy, Japan won’t engage in acts of unnecessary provocation either, Mr. Yachi added. Read More »

Addressing the nation’s military, including an elite unit tasked with defending its remote islands, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sunday vowed to keep in check territorial ambitions of other countries in a veiled warning to China for its maritime advances.

“We will show our resolve as a nation, that changes in the status quo by force cannot be tolerated,” Mr. Abe told an annual review of the Self Defense Forces. “The security environment surrounding Japan has become more challenging. That is the reality,” he told the 4,000 or so SDF members gathered at a military base just north of Tokyo. Read More »

China is expanding its military capabilities, shifting its role from a coastal defense to a military that can protect the country’s interests on a global scale. In “The Dragon Extends its Reach: Chinese Military Power Goes Global,” Larry M. Wortzel, a specialist in Asian defense and counterintelligence issues, assesses China’s strategic objectives and military capabilities — as well as the policy challenges for the U.S.

China Real Time spoke with the author, a commissioner of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission and a 32-year veteran of the U.S. military. Read More »

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